[NEWS] Starwood Credit Cards Upped to 35,000

[NEWS] Starwood Credit Cards Upped to 35,000

Coming off the heels of the news of the new Amex churning restrictions , AMEX upped their offers from the usual 25,000 on the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) cards to 35,000 bonus points.

Details

Personal Card

The Starwood Preferred Guest personal card requires $3,000 in spend, for 35,000 bonus points and comes with the following benefits:

No foreign transaction fees

$0 annual fee the first year, then $95

Having the card gives gives you 5 nights and 2 qualifying stays towards status with Starwood

Unlimited Boingo wifi access

The bonus is currently 35,000 points, or 38,000 after spending $3,000 within three months.

Business Card

The Starwood Preferred Guest business card requires $5,000 in spend, for 35,000 bonus points. It offers the same as above, but includes:

Club lounge access when staying at Sheraton properties

Wrapping it up

Now, these benefits are not amazing. They used to be worse, but SPG points are very difficult to come by, as you can only earn them from two cards and staying at their properties.

SPG points also transfer to many airlines at a 1:1 ratio; but for every 20,000 points you transfer, you get a 5,000 bonus.

So, if you got both cards, you’d have 78,000 points–spend a bit extra, get to 80,000. 80,000 would transfer as 100,000 points to a lot of great airlines! (There are 118 airline transfer partners. Notable ones include: Alaska, American, JAL, British Airways, Aeroplan, Miles and More [Lufthansa], and many more).

Or, you could use it for hotels. SPG properties, solid properties, are fairly priced. Some are extraordinary and you’d get no more than 2 or 3 nights from your new stash of SPG point, but others are lower categories and can help you stretch your points. And stretch ’em you should. REMEMBER: Once you sign up for these cards, you’ll never be able to get them again (unless AMEX changes their rules…).

With the new Chase rules, should I get these two cards?

The offer expires March 30, 2016. If you’re on your last two Chase slots, you could apply for the Chase cards March 30 in the morning (two of them, if you would like) and then the AMEX ones the same day. You can also apply for both of these AMEX cards the same day.

Also–this is a limited time offer. It’s never been this high. It occasionally goes up to 30,000 in August, but even 5,000 points is a difference.